Reed Mathematics Colloquium

Most Thursday afternoons during the academic year, the Reed College Department of Mathematics hosts a math talk. The talks are directed to our mathematics majors but are usually accessible on a variety of levels. Coordinates: The talks are 4:10-5:00 in E314, on the second floor of Eliot Hall (unless marked otherwise). Directions to Reed. Refreshments are served before the talks. For more information, please email davidp at reed.edu.

2008-2009 Schedule
Fall 2008
September
4	Meeting with majors. No talk this week.
11	An extension of D. J. Newman's coprime mapping conjecture with applications to prime trees Leanne Robertson, Mathematics Department, Seattle University
18	The classical partition function from a modern perspective Richard E. Crandall, Center for Advanced Computation, Reed College
25	Randomly State Space Tracking Bart Massey, Computer Science Department, Portland State University
October
2	The geometry of bar-and-joint machines Tom Braden, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, U. Mass., Amherst
9	Can you cut a square into an odd number of triangles of equal area? Aaron Abrams, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Emory University
16	Möbius inversion and graph colorings Nicholas Proudfoot, Department of Mathematics, University of Oregon
23	Fall break
30	Tangents to Four Unit Spheres: An Introduction to Enumerative Algebraic Geometry David Cox, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Amherst College
November
6	Parallel Construction of Suffix Trees Jim Fix, Department of Mathematics, Reed College
13	From conic sections to quaternion algebras Asher Auel, Department of Mathematics, UPenn
20	A year of progress in post-election audits Philip B. Stark, Professor of Statistics, UC Berkeley
27	Thanksgiving break
December
4	Navigating the World's Photos in 3D Steven Seitz, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington
Spring 2009
February
5	Discrete Algebraic Models of Biological Networks Abdul Jarrah, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
12	Geometry of toric patches Luis David Garcia-Puente, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Sam Houston State University
19	Syzygies of toric surfaces Milena Hering, Department of Mathematics, University of Utah
26	The Banach-Tarski Paradox Tom Wieting, Department of Mathematics, Reed College Room: P123
March
5	Boundary Partitions in Trees and Dimers David Wilson, Microsoft Research and the Department of Mathematics, University of Washington Room: Psychology 105
12	From Fish to Polynomials Amelia Taylor, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Colorado College Room: back to Eliot 314
19	Spring break
26	Counting Curves: Tales from the Enumerative Crypt Susan Colley, Department of Mathematics, Oberlin College
April
2	Sandpiles and Tilings David Perkinson, Department of Mathematics, Reed College
8	SPECIAL EVENT   ← Wednesday Mathematics and Natural Sciences Division Speaker Computational challenges and opportunities in RNA secondary structure prediction and design Anne Condon, Department of Computer Science, UBC 7:30–8:30 PM, Psychology 105
9	Improved algorithms and parameters for RNA secondary structure prediction Anne Condon, Department of Computer Science, UBC
16	No talk this week.
23	Using Group Theory and Graph Theory to Build Fast Communications Networks: A Brief Introduction to Expanders and Ramanujan Graphs Mike Krebs, Department of Mathematics, California State University, Los Angeles
30	Benjamin Franklin's Magic Rebecca Garcia, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Sam Houston State University

Past colloquia:

2007-2008

2006-2007

2005-2006

2004-2005

2003-2004

2002-2003

2001-2002

2000-2001